Reflections
by Syndiciate
Summary: What started out as an unwanted duty might turn out to be not so bad. Or maybe it's worse than he thought. He's not quite sure yet.
1. Chapter 1

_"We must prepare to leave at once. Don't leave his side Thorfinn."_

_"What?! You can't- You can't be serious! I'm not doing it! Hey, wait!"_

_"Protecting his highness is __**your**__ job."_

_-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-_

Thorfinn scowled at Askeladd's retreating form and turned to glare at the young prince that had been placed in his charge. He didn't even look up. His gaze was locked on Ragnar's still body, his features frozen in disbelief.

Thorfinn felt the glare that had been an almost permanent fixture on his face, slowly transform into a neutral expression of mute sympathy. He remembered the feeling of losing a loved one all too well. The stunned, helpless feeling of knowing the shelter of their embrace was gone forever, leaving you exposed to the harshness of the world. The fear... The confusion...

Seeing the prince in this all too familiar state evoked feelings in him he had not known he was capable of since before his father's death. Unconsciously, he began to reach out to the prince before immediately snatching his hand back as he realized what he had been about to do.

The sneer was back on his face in an instance, this time however, the anger he felt was directed at himself. What had he been thinking? He was lucky the prince was essentially deaf to the world around him or he would've made a fool of himself.

Still. He felt pity for the prince. He could admit that much to himself. Closing his eyes, Thorfinn tried to remember what had broken him out of his daze. Ah, yes. It had been the thought in the back of his mind as Askeladd's band had begun readying to depart, that his father's killers would get away with it. The all consuming inferno of anger at the thought had immediately melted his frozen limbs. The prince was not so lucky, to know the face of Ragnar's killer or even if they were still alive. No focus for his rage. Unless...

Clearing his throat, Thorfinn let loose a chuckle that felt both unfamiliar and uncomfortable to vocal chords that had not been used in such a way for many years.

"So, the cone-head ate steel in his first battle since he was assigned to you. Figures." Thorfinn silently cursed himself. The last thing he wanted was for the prince to blame himself for Ragnar's death.

Changing tack, Thorfinn continued on "The fat fool could probably barely lift his sword."

That got a reaction. The formerly comatose prince who had begun to glare at him at the start of his speech, got up from the floor and, with a yell of primal rage, charged towards the young viking. Thorfinn allowed the prince to tackle him to the floor and angrily beat his delicate fists against his arms and chest. He barely felt them as he gazed up into the prince's eyes in fascination. Tears leaked down the prince's face even as he beat the object of his fury. After about a minute, the blows being delivered to his body began to slow until they halted completely. All that was left was a sobbing prince with trembling hands sitting atop him.

Thorfinn was at a loss as to what to do. He hadn't really thought beyond simply snapping the prince out of his dazed state. Slowly, Thorfinn began to reach out... Only to be interrupted by the sound of footsteps accompanied by loud voices and laughter approaching the cabin.

The noise immediately ceased as the door was thrown open to reveal Thorfinn and the prince in what appeared to be a rather compromising position. Bjorn who had been leading the group was the first to get over their shock.

"Didn't know you swung that way Thorfinn. I suppose that explains why you never took your share of the spoils after we raided a town or village though. Then again, I wouldn't fault you for mistaking his highness for a girl. He's as pretty as Freya herself." Bjorn's booming laughter filled the room and the men behind him followed suit.

Privately, Thorfinn agreed with Bjorn's assessment of the prince. They had skin smoother than most girls, hair as golden as wheat and blue eyes clearer than a cloudless Icelandic sky. But since voicing those thoughts was unlikely to improve his current situation...

The faces of both Canute and Thorfinn flushed in anger and embarrassment as they attempted to disentangle themselves from one another which only spurred on the laughter from the mercenaries in front of them.

Once they'd freed themselves from each other's limbs they both turned their glares on Bjorn who continued to chuckle at their predicament unaffected.

"It's not what you think!" Both Thorfinn and Canute shouted at the same time. Turning, they glared at each other

Wiping the corner of his eye which had begun to water in amusement, Bjorn smiled at the two adolescents in front of him. His worry that the prince would not recover from Ragnar's death had been unfounded then. Askeladd had been wise to pair the two boys together. A companion the prince's age would be good for him.

Becoming more serious, Bjorn addressed the two of them "Thorkell is close, we need to leave immediately."

The prince protested immediately "What about Ragnar? We need to give him a proper burial before we depart."

Bjorn looked around the room avoiding the prince's gaze.

"We'll be leaving Ragnar's body behind. We barely have enough space on the sleds to carry the band's food and supplies as is."

The prince's face paled momentarily before instantly turning red.

"You can't do this! He's worth a thousand of you stupid sell-swords! It'll only take a few minutes to bury him. I order you to stop!"

Thorfinn watched, somewhat in awe, as Canute went from denial, to insults, to attempts at negotiation to arrogant demands within the span of a few seconds, but had a feeling that none of it was going to be very effective as a stoic Bjorn slowly approached Canute until the prince had backed himself into the corner, still shouting orders and obscenities at the berserker, even as he was hoisted over their shoulder.

_-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-_

**Author's Note: Confession time. I've shipped Thorfinn and Canute since the first time I saw them in the same panel when reading the manga. Since the manga takes place from numerous perspectives, has a lot wordless interactions and flash forwards, it's kind of a great medium for fanfictions since there's plenty of blank spaces to fill in. As with pretty much anything I write for a pre-established work, I try to keep the characters as accurate to their original portrayals as possible but hey, pobody's nerfect ( yes, I just did that ). If you have any recommendations or thoughts about the story going forward, I'd love to hear them. I'm currently debating whether or not to keep this canon compliant or just make it an AU, interested in hearing what you guys would prefer as that will determine the direction of the story going forward. Till next time! :) **


	2. Chapter 2

Somewhat grudgingly, Thorfinn followed Bjorn and the still complaining prince out of the hut. Tuning out the prince's cries Thorfinn allowed his gaze to settle on the the other members of Askeladd's band as they progressed through the camp.

There was something off about them. Normally they'd be chortling over some fool's joke or telling tales of their exploits with women.

_"More likely making up such tales."_ Thorfinn snorted to himself.

They were doing none of that at the moment. It was almost silent in the clearing as the men packed their belongings. The few who were talking were doing so in hushed tones and many were darting their eyes around nervously.

_"Does Thorkell really have them this spooked?"_ Thorfinn thought to himself. Not that could blame them. The Jomsviking was a force to be reckoned with. Not only was he strong enough to sink longships with logs and boulders but he was incredibly fast as well. A whirlwind of destruction.

_"I barely even nicked him the last time we fought."_ Thorfinn reflected morosely. _"I'll have to get in close next time..." _

His thoughts were interrupted by a ringing slap that echoed across the clearing. The few men left in the clearing who looked up to see what had made the sound quickly turned their gazes downward as they saw what had occurred.

Askeladd has struck the prince.

Thorfinn's eyes widened in shock. This sort of behavior wouldn't have been out of the ordinary for the band's leader but given this was the potential future king of the Danes it was an action that was seemingly at odds with Askeladd's usually cautious nature.

"Ragnar is dead. And he's never coming back." The mercenary captain told the prince coldly.

Thorfinn cringed, remembering Askeladd saying something very similar to him after his own father's death. While it was likely Canute needed to hear these words, Thorfinn knew Askeladd wasn't saying it out of any desire to help the prince. His hand tightened on one of his daggers reflexively.

_"Soon."_ Thorfinn thought. He would ensure Askeladd gave him another duel after their battle with Thorkell and his men.

The prince had managed to get over his shock somewhat as he looked up at Askeladd from his position on the sled.

"You..." The tense standoff was interrupted as one of the band's senior members entered the clearing followed by a large group behind him.

"Get moving damn you..." He muttered as he dragged two grimacing men behind him.

"Askeladd!" He called out, causing the stoic captain to turn his gaze from the prince onto him. Shoving the men to the ground he looked up at their group.

"Deserters. They were attempting to defect to Thorkell's side." He grunted out. "Found 'em hiding out in the straw piles."

The band's leader turned his icy gaze away onto the two men splayed out before him.

The two refused to meet his eyes. One took his chances and began to babble out an excuse.

"R... Ragnar was right. Fortune has forsaken you Askeladd... I ain't the only one... Everyone's thinkin' it on the inside. We can't take our chances this time. Thorkell's got you in his grasp, don't you see?"

_"Pathetic."_ Thorfinn thought. His lips curling in disgust as the two mercenaries cowered before the stoic mercenary leader.

Thorfinn was caught off guard as Askeladd simply walked past the two deserters.

"Do as you will. Choose your leader." Turning to the rest of the band Askeladd addressed them.

"Same to all of you! If you want to abandon me, do so! I will not curse your names."

His eyes swept over the men that had gathered around the clearing.

"But if you do want to come with me... March! March until we've thrown Thorkell off our tail! Eat as you march, and sleep as you march!

Without another word, Askeladd turned heel and began marching away from the band.

"Tsk." Thorfinn made a noise of irritation under his breath.

_"Always so dramatic..." _Shouldering his pack he began to follow the old man. He didn't look back to see if anybody was. It didn't matter anyways.

He would see this through to the end. No matter what.

_-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-_

**Author's Note: This one took a bit to get out. I was debating on whether or not I should just skip straight to the action or adapt the ****chapters**** in between as well. Considering there's only a couple of chapters between Ragnar's death and Thorkell catching up to Askelaad's band I figured I might as well adapt the content in between. Especially as my story's version of events are likely to depart significantly from the manga after that point. **

**Comment Responses**

** Crankious: You might not believe this but you're one of the authors whose own story ( "Furthest from god" ) ****inspired me to write this fic ****along with"forgive me o lord" by ****hellaheim**** and "Sea Change." I was grinning for the whole night after seeing your comment.**

** Heichouchou: Thank you so much for the encouragement and kind words. I agree that the material post Ketli's farm isn't as interesting and I ascribe that mostly to a meandering plot without a clear goal but also partly due to the side characters not being delved into very much. It's definitely not in my plans to follow that plot line regardless of the outcome of the upcoming battle.**

**One thing I've always loved about Vinland Saga is how detailed the panels are both in terms of the art and story. It makes sense given how accurate to history the author tries to make their story with even the blank spots we don't have information on being filled in by reasonable assumptions based on the knowledge we do have. In a way, Yukimura is writing fanfiction too, just of actual real life events. :) **


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